168 THE STORY-BOOK OF SCIENCE 



exciter. Emboldened by his example, the spectators 

 draw near and evoke the electric explosion. They 

 crowd around the wonderful cylinder that now con- 

 tains the fire from heaven, called down by man's 

 genius; each one wishes to call forth the lightning, 

 and each wishes to see sparkle between his fingers 

 the fulminant substance descended from the clouds. 

 So they play with the thunder for half an hour with 

 impunity, when all at once a violent spark reaches de 

 Romas and almost knocks him over. The hour of 

 peril has come. The storm is getting nearer, 

 stronger, every moment ; thick clouds hover over the 

 kite. 



"De Romas summons up all his firmness; he 

 quickly makes the crowd draw back and remains 

 alone at the side of his apparatus, in the middle of 

 the circle of spectators, who are beginning to get 

 frightened. Then, with the aid of the exciter, he 

 elicits from the metallic cylinder first strong sparks, 

 capable of throwing a person down under the vio- 

 lence of the commotion, then ribbons of fire that dart 

 in serpentine lines and burst with a crash. These 

 ribbons soon measure a length of two or three meters. 

 Any one struck by one of them would certainly per- 

 ish. De Romas, fearing from moment to moment 

 some fatal accident, enlarges the circle of curious 

 spectators and ceases the perilous provocation of 

 electric fire. But, braving imminent death, he con- 

 tinues his perilous observations at close range, with 

 the same coolness as if he were engaged in the most 

 harmless experiment. Around him there is heard a 

 roaring like the continuous blast of a forge ; an odor 



